What Is an Aneurysm?

Watch this video to learn how aneurysms form and ways they are treated and prevented.

Aneurysms

An aneurysm is a bulge or "ballooning" in the wall of an artery. Arteries are blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood from the heart to other parts of the body. If an aneurysm grows large, it can burst and cause dangerous bleeding or even death.

Most aneurysms occur in the aorta, the main artery that runs from the heart through the chest and abdomen. Aneurysms also can happen in arteries in the brain, heart and other parts of the body. If an aneurysm in the brainbursts, it causes a stroke.

Aneurysms can develop and become large before causing any symptoms. Often doctors can stop aneurysms from bursting if they find and treat them early. They use imaging tests to find aneurysms. Often aneurysms are found by chance during tests done for other reasons. Medicines and surgery are the two main treatments for aneurysms.

Dr. Oz: Sort of like a balloon`s being blown up past its comfort space, it gets bigger and bigger and bigger and eventually (POP), it pops.

VO: Many aneurysms never rupture, and often people are not even aware they have one.

VO: Most aneurysms - 3 out of 4 - are found by chance when a diagnostic test, like an X-ray or an ultrasound, is performed for a different reason.

VO: Aneurysms can happen anywhere in the body. The most common and most dangerous occur in the brain - where a cerebral aneurysm can lead to stroke...in the carotid artery in your neck...or in the aorta.

VO: The aorta is the largest blood vessel in your body. It`s as wide as a garden hose, comes directly out of your heart and runs the length of your torso, feeding blood to many other vessels.

Dr. Oz: The aortic aneurysm is an often under-diagnosed problem because you don`t really have any symptoms until it bursts and as you might guess, when the major tube carrying blood from the heart bursts, the blood goes all over the place, but it doesn`t go where it needs to go which is to your brain and the rest of your body and those folks die in an alarmingly high rate.

VO: Aneurysms are caused by constant pressure on the lining of the blood vessels, due to factors such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, genetics, smoking, aging, and sometimes injury, infection or inflammation.

VO: The walls of your blood vessels have 3 layers. The middle elastic section is the largest, and when under constant pressure, it can thin out considerably to form an aneurysm.

Dr. Watson: So basically it`s just like if you keep pounding against anything for any given amount of time, you`re going to get a weakness in that area. When you get enough weakness in a vessel in a certain area, an aneurysm forms.

VO: Often doctors will take a `watch and wait` approach to an aneurysm, but surgery may be necessary to treat an aneurysm that has gotten too big, or is growing too rapidly.

VO: For cerebral aneurysms, a surgical clip is often used.

VO: For abdominal aortic aneurysms. There are two main surgical procedures. The more traditional surgery uses a graft to replace a section of the aorta...and a newer approach involves feeding a stent up into the aorta to essentially brace the walls of the vessel.

VO: But as in all cardiovascular disease, doctors recommend a preventative approach. Quitting smoking, controlling your blood pressure and cholesterol and maintaining healthy physical activity are the best ways to avoid an aneurysm.

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